PROPER NAME WAS AL-ḌAḤḤĀK IBN MAKHLAD
[ʿAbd Allāh:] A group of Hadith-men once gathered at the circle of Abū ʿĀṣim al-Daḥḥāk ibn Makhlad. 10.37
“All of you claim to have religious understanding,” he said, “but do any of you have it?” With that he began to rebuke them.
“One of us does,” they said.
“Who?”
“He’s on his way.”
When my father arrived, they said, “That’s him!”
Abū ʿĀṣim looked at him and said, “Come up front.”
“I don’t like to step over people,” he said.
“Now there’s a man who understands!” said Abū ʿĀṣim. “Make room for him!”
They moved aside and he came in. Abū ʿĀṣim asked him to sit in front of him. Then he asked him a question, which he answered. He asked him another question, and he answered that one too, and then a third, and then many, and he answered them all.
“This is a sea creature,” said Abū ʿĀṣim, “not a land animal!” Or he may have said, “This is a sea creature that walks on land!”68
[Abū ʿĀṣim:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came to see me. I heard people saying “Ibn Ḥanbal’s here! Ibn Ḥanbal’s here!” 10.38
“Show me this Ibn Ḥanbal,” I said, and they pointed him out.
“You there!” I said. “I have a bone to pick with you. You came to my town and didn’t present yourself so we could show you the welcome you deserve.”
“Abū ʿĀṣim,” he said, “you’ll be doing more than enough if I can trouble you to teach some Hadith.”
I could see that he was modest, earnest, and well-mannered, and would go as far as any man.
[ʿAbbās:] I heard Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl say, at the mention of Ibn Ḥanbal, that he had met him. Then he turned around and asked, “Who do you consider the leading Hadith-men in Baghdad today?” 10.39
They listed Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Khaythamah, al-Muʿayṭī, al-Suwaydī, and other Hadith-men.
“What about here in Basra?”
We named ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn al-Shādhakūnī, Ibn ʿArʿarah, Ibn Abī Khadduwayh, and so on.
“What about Kufa?”
We named the two sons of Abū Shaybah, Ibn Numayr, and some others.
Abū ʿĀsim heaved several sighs—making a sound like “ah, ah, ah”—and said, “Every one you mentioned has come here to see me, and I’ve met them all. None of them is a match for that young fellow Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”
ʿAbbās added that Abū ʿĀṣim was saying this even before Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was tried by the Inquisition.
[Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr:] When I took my leave of Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl, he said to me, “Convey my greetings to that righteous man Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.” 10.40
ABŪ L-YAMĀN AL-ḤAKAM IBN NĀFIʿ
[Abū l-Yamān:] I used to think Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal resembled Arṭaʾah ibn al-Mundhir.69 10.41
YAḤYĀ IBN ĀDAM
[Yaḥyā ibn Ādam:] Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal is our exemplar. 10.42
SULAYMĀN IBN ḤARB
[A man:] Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb once said to me, “Ask Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal what he says about this problem, because he’s our exemplar.” 10.43
ʿAFFĀN IBN MUSLIM AL-ṢAFFĀR (THE COPPERSMITH)
[Al-Mukharrimī:] I heard ʿĪsā ibn ʿAffān say: “Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and Abū Khaythamah”—and others he mentioned—“all used to come and hear Hadith from my father. Then Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal came and heard Hadith from him. After he left, my father said to me, ‘He was worth the lot of them,’ referring to how much Aḥmad knew.” 10.44
AL-HAYTHAM IBN JAMĪL, ABŪ SAHL AL-BAGHDĀDĪ
[Abū ʿUthmān:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say: “If that young man”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—“lives long enough, he’ll be God’s proof of Islam for a whole generation.” 10.45
[Ibn Abī l-Ḥawārī:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say, “Every age has a man who serves as a proof of Islam to his generation. Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ is the proof for his time, and I think that if that young man”—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—“lives long enough, he’ll be the proof for his.” 10.46
[Yūsuf ibn Muslim:] Haytham ibn Jamīl once made an error while reciting a Hadith citing Hushaym. 10.47
“Some people recite that report differently,” he was told.
“Like who?”
“Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.”
“I wish my life could be shorter,” said al-Haytham, “and his longer.”
[Asad al-Khashshāb:] I heard al-Haytham ibn Jamīl say, “I wish God would make Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s life longer and mine shorter.” 10.48
Then he turned to a man who was present and said, “Tell me: Why did you say that I had anything useful to impart to Muslims?”
ABŪ NUʿAYM AL-FAḌL IBN DUKAYN
[Al-Ramādī:] I remember one occasion when we were at Abū Nuʿaym’s studying with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn. In those days, when Abū Nuʿaym held Hadith sessions, Aḥmad used to sit on his right and Yaḥyā on his left. One day Yaḥyā came to me with a piece of paper on which he had written some of Abū Nuʿaym’s reports and then, in the spaces between them, copied out reports transmitted by others. “When it’s us there,” he said, “Give Abū Nuʿaym the paper and have him read it.” 10.49
When the session ended and people were leaving, he handed him the paper.70 Abū Nuʿaym read the whole thing, then stared at me for a while, and finally looked at Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn.
“This fellow here,” he said, gesturing toward Aḥmad, “takes his religion too seriously to do something like this. As for you,” he said, looking at me, “you don’t do this sort of thing. The one who did it,” he continued, “must be this one,” and gave Yaḥyā a kick that knocked him off the stoop. “Who are you trying to fool?” he cried.
Yaḥyā picked himself up and kissed Abū Nuʿaym. “May God
